The present invention relates in general to dispensing of materials and, more particularly, to a container closure which dispenses metered amounts of a material from the container.
At the disposal of the modern homemaker are many recipes which in some manner or other require a measured or metered amount of material to be dispensed from a container. The most common example of such recipes is a teaspoon of sugar in a cup of coffee. There are endless other examples of recipes calling for a measured amount of at least one ingredient. Some examples are: spices in recipes; tea; flour; salt; even the amount of instant coffee required for the one cup of coffee.
Commonly, to dispense such metered amounts of materials, one simply inserts one of several sized measuring spoons into the jar, or container, containing the material and withdraws the required amount therefrom. This procedure has proven to be time consuming and wasteful if the spoon is accidentally dropped or over-turned before the desired time.
Dispensing tops or caps placed on the container used to store such materials alleviates some of the aforementioned problems. However, known dispensing caps still suffer several deficiencies. For example, known dispensing means which are attached to a container do not seal the container tightly enough to insure the exclusion of air from that container. Thus, the contents quickly dry out and are also subject to spoiling due to contact with particles in the air.
A further problem with known dispensing caps arises because some of the material being dispensed is likely to become lodged in the dispensing means thereby jamming it or destroying any slight air seal which may be present. This problem is especially troublesome if the material is formed of small granules, such as sugar or salt.
Furthermore, known dispensing caps are generally difficult to manufacture and hence are expensive. Many often have odd shapes and thus create storage problems for a user once the cap is installed on the jar.
Because of these drawbacks, and especially the drawback resulting from material spoilage, dispensing caps have not gained wide acceptance.